This is a very simple but reliable little water wheel that produces electricity from a limited water supply with almost no fall.

Water arrives via a 3.5 inch pipe under no pressure, which is comparable to an extremely small natural stream, with the wheel itself being made from an old BMX rear-wheel.

The benefit of the bike wheel is not only low cost but that they have very well sealed bearings that last years even when constantly splashed with water. Changing the bearings/axle is cheap and easy.

The little DC motor (link below) is used as a dynamo and gives an open voltage of about 25 volts. Under a load charging a 12v leisure battery, it delivers about 0.2 amps, or around 4 watts.

That is enough to charge a half-empty 100AH leisure battery in five days.

It's a good "Steady-Eddy" wheel, delivering a small current but will run quietly and without stress day and night.

If solar is not an option for whatever reason (and being in the bottom of a mine does pose a problem for solar), hydro or wind may have potential.

Motor used as a dynamo: [ Ссылка ]

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UPDATE OCTOBER 2020: well it's been running for 10 months now, I checked on it a couple of days ago and it's still making about 5w. Doesn't sound much but since it's been running it's clocked up 36 Kwh (units), which (after some googling) is enough to boil 1,011 cups of tea in an electric kettle.

If I'd have been selling the power generated to the National Grid, their hydo feed-in tariff being about 20p/unit at the moment, that means I'd have made £7.20 (or ten US dollars). Not really enough to retire on and I think I'd rather have 1,011 cups of tea.

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